Buildings in Manchester City Centre – A Guided Walk

Overview

The walk will encompass the history and character of the 19th century city as seen in its buildings. Professor Asa Briggs famously described Manchester as ‘the Shock City of the Industrial Revolution’. It was the world’s first industrial city. A long-established town, Manchester was the first to embrace both factory-based mass production on a massive scale and the global commerce involved in the importation of raw materials, the production and sale of finished textiles and the multiplicity of associated engineering and chemical industries that went hand in hand. Unfettered by guilds and corporations, Manchester was always ahead of the curve. ‘What Manchester thinks today London thinks tomorrow’ was a famous aphorism highlighting Manchester’s innovation, culture and radicalism that heavily influenced the rest of the country. Wealth derived from manufacturing and commerce spawned civic pride which found expression in mercantile palaces – Manchester’s famous palazzo warehouses – and in equal expressions of civic confidence. These are largely contained in the square mile which is the city’s historic core. The route will cover numerous examples of Manchester’s special building type, the cotton packing warehouse. Their development in terms of layout, construction technology and architectural expression spanning the period 1820 – 1920 will be explained. The walk will also cover commercial and civic buildings within the historic core including works by Charles Barry, Alfred Waterhouse, Basil Champneys, Thomas Worthington, Edward Walters, J E Gregan, Charles Heathcote, Harry S Fairhurst and others. We will see the Town Hall emerging from its scaffolding wrap as the half billion pound restoration nears completion. We will also see the fully restored Albert Memorial which was originally completed ten years ahead of its London namesake.

The walk will cover about one and a half miles. Please be aware that parts of the canal towpath are uneven.

Location

Meet at 10:30am at the Statue of Queen Victoria in Piccadilly Gardens.